Sweet Smelling Rose

My husband got me roses for Valentine's Day, so I couldn't resist the photo opportunity.

Techie Corner
Took a custom white balance so I could use a ceiling light instead of a flash. Used my +4 Close-up filter. (I've had those close-up filters for over 15 years, and I've gotten more use out of them in the past month than I ever have!) Very little editing: a slight crop, a little sharpening and softening. That's it.
Shot at 1 Sec @ F8.0, ISO 400

Heavenly Peace

I had to stop by my church today and I decided to make it a photo opportunity. There is a nice stained-glass window in the back of the sanctuary, but it is in a sad state of disrepair. I still like the one inlay in the window, so I decided to showcase that in today's picture.

It's Friday already! Can you believe it? See you next week!

Techie Corner
I was practicing some Photoshop techniques again. I also had to do some retouching because there were chips and cracks in the inlay.
Shot at 1/30 Sec @ F8.0, ISO 400

Soaring Wings

I looked out today and saw oodles of crows hanging around our backyard. I put my "big lens" on my camera and parked myself in front of a window. I used my tripod and panned the birds as they flew around and got this nice picture.

A silly little squirrel decided to run the line right through the area where all the birds were flying. He got halfway across and then stopped. I'm guessing he was thinking "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." But then his silly little buddy came along behind him and they ran as fast as they could to the other side.

Techie Corner
I set my lens to 270mm (digital equivalent), set the focus to manual, and focused out to the general area of the birds. I set the camera to continuous shooting so I could take multiple shots while they were flying. I did editing in Lightroom and Photoshop, including edge vignetting to make the crow stand out.
Shot at 1/500 Sec @ F16, ISO 400

Portrait of a Paw

Yep, we're back to the cat. She was amazingly cooperative today. I need to find some new victims...I mean volunteers!

Techie Corner
I did extensive editing in Photoshop and Lightroom. It was a fairly ordinary photo and I wanted to practice some editing techniques I've learned.
Shot at 1/60 Sec @ F3.5, ISO 400

Back to Portraits

I figured it was time to work on portraiture again. I had to run a lot of errands today, so by the time I got done, I had to settle for mom or the cat. That's a tough choice because they can both be difficult. I hadn't shot mom for a while, so she was today's guinea pig. She kept wiggling around, but I finally managed to get one in focus.

Techie Corner
I used off-camera flash with a reflector. I used a couple of Scott Kelby's Photoshop techniques (edge vignetting and softening), some sharpening, a little retouching, and cropped for 8 x 10.
Shot at 1/60 Sec @ F2.8, ISO 400